Water Polo with Powerful Winning Performance

Posted: September 7, 2017

Andrew Bensch

Our varsity water polo squad swam swiftly through Serra Padre waters in Wednesday’s season opener on the peninsula. The game was never close, as the Bells led by quarter scores of 5-2, 7-3 and 13-5, before winning 15-7.

Despite doubling up on the Padres, Bellarmine Head Coach Colin Mello knows his team still has plenty to work on moving forward.

“I thought we were a little bit rusty, being our first game of the season,” remarked Mello, who enters his sixth year as head coach after taking over for the recently (fully) retired Larry Rogers. “Games are obviously a different speed from practice, it happens a little faster regardless of how fast you are trying to practice. Overall, the performance was not bad, but a lot of things to work on.”

Bellarmine was led offensively Wednesday by a trio of junior starters in Dominick Kirk, Gabe Discipulo and Nicky Fontes, the latter of whom is a unique left-handed shooter.

“Catching the ball, they call it catching it cross face for a righty when someone throws it from your left and you have to catch it across your face,” noted senior Thomas Rogers. “Whereas having a lefty, you can pass to a lefty on his strong side and he can pass back on the righty’s strong side. Having a lefty is a humongous advantage.”

One could say Fontes is the Bells’ version of Madison Bumgarner and likewise Kirk might be their Johnny Cueto. Kirk scored a crafty first quarter goal with his back to the net. “That’s just improvisation,” chuckled Rethans on Kirk’s impressive goal.

The Bells now have exactly a week off before their home opener on September 13 against St. Ignatius.

Don't Step on the B!
The block B sidewalk mosaic was originally placed in the quad during the 1988-1989 school year. Tradition calls for students to walk around the B, rather than stepping on the B, as a demonstration of school pride.